FRESH MEAT FRIDAY: April 16th, 2020

Every Friday, a wagon arrives at the Sleeping Village’s gates, stuffed to the brim with our sustenance for the following week. Today is the day we must offload all this new music, and so, in the process, we thought it would be worthwhile to share some of our choice picks from this veritable mass of fresh meat. This is what we’ll be listening to today here at the Village HQ. We hope you join us in doing so!

On the docket for today, April 16th, 2020:
At the Altar of the Horned God, FOES, REPTILIUM, and Funeral Leech

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At the Altar of the Horned God - ​Through Doors of Moonlight (I, Voidhanger Records)

Ye olde I, Voidhanger specializes in delivering music that pushes boundaries and toes lines of obscurity and invention. In that regard, At the Altar of the Horned God certainly delivers: this album is a blackened avant-garde paganistic ode to the natural order. While the majority of the ritualistic soundscape blankets the listener with an odd meditative sensuality, a sharp vicious rage frequently shows teeth. Equal parts spiritual and menacing, Through Doors of Moonlight feels like a genuine journey--although it’s yet to be determined whether said journey leads into enlightenment...or through madness. Let me get back to you on that one; I’ve only listened to this horn’d beast once. Highly recommended for those of you who like a brand of black metal as experimental as it is organic.

Find 'em on bandcamp here!

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FOES - American Violence
(Glacier Recordings)

Metallic hardcore? Not my typical genre o’ choice. But sometimes you just need an ass-kicking soundtrack, and so here we are, latest EP from OR’s hardest hardcore outfit  clutched in white-knuckled grasp. In short? These guys rip it up with elbow elbow-throwing zeal, laying down a potent mix of punishing deathy riffage and gritty hardcore swagger. Muted chugs throw down alongside breakneck percussion and the most furious vocal delivery of the week.  FOES are not here to make friends, and, in the process, will likely end up gaining themselves some fans instead--after all, if there was ever a time to be fuckin’ furious, this is surely it. American Violence succeeds because it wears its vitriolic intent on its ragged and punk-patch ridden sleeves. Check this one out.

Find 'em on bandcamp here!

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REPTILIUM - Adrenochromacy
​(Slam Worldwide)

Afterbirth’s latest has turned this slumbering scribe onto brutality in a big way. The latest victim of my obsessive listening tendencies has been this gem, the latest from South American death cultists REPTILIUM, who wield an intriguing blend of brutal death metal...and, I dunno, blackened slam? In any case, these guys know how to write compelling music--there is nothing dull nor boring lurking within these four tracks. Samples, thick gurgles, and high-pitched howls coalesce to, in turn, meet tremelo’d sidewinder leads, which all lurk ferociously over a hot bed of blasts and thick chugs. It’s an intriguing and technical construction, made even more enjoyable by the surprisingly crisp production. Check out “Refusing the Hidden Truth” in particular for a taste of what these REPTILIUM overlords are capable of. Highly recommended! 

​Find 'em on Bandcamp here!

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Funeral Leech - Death Meditation
​(Carbonized Records)

In the (admittedly narrow) world of death doom, nothing has tickled my fancy since Hooded Menace’s stellar 2018 effort. ‘Till today, that is. Funeral Leechin brief, provide a absolute masterclass in crushing atmosphere. From end to end, Death Meditation is truly cavernous--subterranean, even. A wall of loam-bound sound. While it should feel suffocating, there’s subtle openness at play as well, which lends the menacing vocals additional emotive weight. Death doom all-to-oft lacks the punch and vigor of ODSM and the heft of doom, but the balance here is perfectly balanced. If I do have one complaint, it’s that “Downpour,” quite possible the best track, kicks the album off--but hardly valid criticism, as the entire album is exceedingly worth your while on this Fresh Meat Friday. Give it a listen.

​Find 'em on Bandcamp here!

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